VANCOUVER – With a spot open in the inaugural World Series of Fighting lightweight title bout next month, the stakes of Saturday’s WSOF 7 fight against Sabah Fadai just dramatically increased for Nick Newell.

With Brazilian Marcus Vinicius forced to withdraw from this weekend’s World Series of Fighting 7, his preliminary bout with Ryan Dickson has been scratched, and the card will carry on with nine fights.

Nick Newell was a young boy when he first met Jim Abbott, the former Major League Baseball pitcher who, like Newell, was born with only one hand. Even then Newell knew it probably wasn’t a particularly memorable encounter for Abbott, though it certainly was for him.

Canadian welterweight Ryan Dickson, a 24-year-old cancer survivor, has replaced an injured Ryan Chiappe and now meets Marcus Vinicius at next month’s “World Series of Fighting 7: Karakhanyan vs. Palmer” event.

A family emergency has forced Rick Glenn to withdraw from a planned World Series of Fighting 7 title fight, allowing Lance Palmer to step in and face Georgi Karakhanyan for the promotion’s inaugural featherweight belt.